Black Moon
by Lady Vinicia
Summary: A misunderstanding causes Rin to travel with the InuTachi. Her loving nature & quickly formed friendships cause Sesshoumaru & InuYasha to form a temporary alliance, but what happens when an ancient prophecy must be fulfilled? SesshoumaruOC. Mostly CU
1. Poor Rin

**Chapter One**

Poor Rin...

"I don't see why you have to go back to your own time so much," InuYasha snapped, ears flicked down slightly in irritation as he watched Kagome climb out of the well dragging an engorged yellow bag behind her.

"I had a test! Besides, it's important that I check in. And look, I brought more ramen-"

"Ramen?" His ears perked up hopefully and he eyed the yellow bag.

Kagome smiled lightly. "Yes, ramen. And the sooner we get back to Kaede's, the sooner I can make some for you," she said in her best 'if I feed you, will you please stop yelling at me?' voice.

"Why didn't ya say so?" He scooped up her bag and crouched down so she could jump on his back. "Let's go!" She happily obliged and they took off at a fast run towards the village that had become her home over the past couple years.

When they got to Kaede's hut, the impatient hanyou rushed inside and dropped both Kagome and her bag next to the fire.

"Hurry up and make me ninja food!" InuYasha demanded. She glowered slightly at having been dropped but obediently went about setting water to boil.

"InuYasha, would you please go and tell the others I'm back? I brought presents for all of you." He stood and walked to the doorway, lifting the mat that served as a door.

He put a hand to his mouth and took a deep breath. "KAGOME'S BACK!" he bellowed to the sky before turning to Kagome with a smirk. "They should be here any minute."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it!"

"Keh. You never said-"

"KAGOME!" A fluffy ball (more commonly known as Shippou) crashed into her, hugging her tightly.

"Shippou!" She returned the embrace, hugging the kit fondly. When she released him she turned to her bag and pulled out a small box of cookies, handing them over to the grinning child. "Now don't eat too many of these, save some room for ramen." He nodded before scurrying off to sit against a wall of the hut, tearing open his prize and popping a cookie into his mouth.

A moment later, Sango stepped into the hut followed closely by Miroku. "Kagome-chan!" Sango said happily. "You're back!"

"Yes, we had heard that you had returned, although the methods of our being informed were a bit crude," Miroku commented.

"Keh. I told ya, didn't I?" InuYasha folded his arms stubbornly and went to sit against the wall opposite from were Shippou was sitting with his cookies. Kagome rolled her eyes and dug through her bag, pulling out a soda for Miroku, a bag of potato chips for InuYasha, and an assortment of chocolates for Sango.

She then proceeded to finish making "ninja food" for her friends. Soon after, they were once again off on their seemingly endless quest for jewel shards.

----------

Not two hours into their search, the sound of a small child crying somewhere in the distance came to their ears. They stopped, looking in the general direction the sound was coming from. Kagome and Sango exchanged glances and Sango nodded in approval of Kagome's unspoken thought: 'we need to go find and help this child.'

The two females abruptly began to walk towards the sound of crying when InuYasha jumped in front of them. "Oi! Where do you think you're going? We got jewel shards to find, remember?"

"InuYasha… We have to go help that child," Kagome pointed out.

He glared murderously. "We still haven't gotten rid of the last whelp you decided to help," he said darkly.

There was a collective gasp and Shippou looked like he might cry before looking extremely angry.

Kagome looked furious from the start. "Don't you dare talk about Shippou like that! Osuwari!" Once there was a nice InuYasha shaped crater complete with the appropriate hanyou-filling, Sango and Kagome rushed off in the direction of the crying child.

----------

Rin ran blindly through the forest, tears stinging her eyes, but not quite falling yet. She cried out in pain every time a branch or bush slapped against her or caught onto her arms and legs. She was starting to get tired, but she knew she couldn't stop running until she was far, far away. Jaken-sama told her so. And she knew he was right.

She had been kidnapped by a lower class youkai intent upon eating her while left in Jaken's care. Sesshoumaru-sama had saved her from being eaten, but one of her legs had been badly injured, and they had not been able to travel for almost three weeks while it healed.

After they had begun traveling again, during one of the instances in which Sesshoumaru-sama had left for a few days, Jaken had told her how angry Sesshoumaru-sama had been about such a long delay, and how he never wanted to see her again. Rin had tearfully asked Jaken what she should do to make Sesshoumaru-sama happy with her once more, and Jaken told her it would make Sesshoumaru-sama extremely happy if she would run and not stop running until she was far, far away.

So she turned and ran. Not caring about the cuts being issued to her arms and legs from trees and bushes, or to her feet from sharp rocks and the occasional thorn.

She didn't know how long she had been running, but her side was starting to throb terribly, and her legs ached, screaming in protest for her to stop.

She broke free of the forest suddenly and found herself running through grass that was taller than she was.

Suddenly, without warning, her foot caught in a small hole in the ground, hurling her to the grassy floor and twisting her ankle quite painfully. She let out a wail of pain and anguish and finally allowed the tears building up within her large brown eyes to spill, streaming down her dirt-streaked face.

----------

Sango and Kagome followed the pitiful sounds of a crying child and soon came upon a field of grass that was a little more than waist high. They plunged into the grass and began heading towards a forest on the other side of the field when they came upon the distressed child. A little girl with black hair lay face-down in the grass, sobbing hysterically. Kagome gathered the little girl in her arms and began rocking her gently. The girl tensed immediately, then glanced up. When she saw who held her, she seemed to calm down and snuggled into Kagome's embrace.

"Wait a minute. Aren't you that little girl that travels with Sesshoumaru?" Kagome asked. The girl started crying even harder, if that were possible, and nodded. "Then why aren't you with him? Or with Jaken and… uh, that dragon?"

"Ah-Un." She sniffled and clung to Kagome tightly. "And Rin is not with them because Rin made Sesshoumaru-sama very angry, and now he never wants to see Rin again!"

Sango and Kagome exchanged a puzzled look before Kagome turned back to the crying child in her arms. "Would you like to come with us for a while? We have a little fox kit in our group, and he's about your age. I'm sure he'd love to play with you."

She sniffled as she stopped crying. "O-okay…" She sniffed again. "Rin's name is Rin. What is yours?"

"I'm Kagome. It's nice to finally meet you, Rin! Oh, and this is Sango."

Rin looked at Sango. "Oh, you are Kohaku's sister."

She blinked. "Is… Is Kohaku alright?"

"Sesshoumaru-sama will protect him. He doesn't let anything happen to those who travel under his protection…" Sango and Kagome exchanged another uneasy look then headed back to the others, Kagome still carrying Rin.

----------

As soon as InuYasha caught sight of the little girl and identified her scent as one that was constantly around his older half-brother, he became quite unhappy. One might say, in fact, that he was even angry.

"No way is that brat coming with us!" he snapped, pointing an accusing finger at the girl. "If Sesshoumaru even suspects that we took a member of his pack, he'll have a perfectly valid excuse to kill all of us! Not that he thinks he needs one," he added in a dark murmur. "You two need to take her back where you found her, and leave her there so that bastard can find her when he gets around to looking for her."

Kagome gently set Rin on the ground and looked at the fox kit peering out curiously from behind Miroku's robes. "Shippou, come out and say 'hello.'" He obediently came out of hiding and approached her. "Shippou, meet Rin. Rin, this is Shippou. Why don't you two play while I talk to InuYasha?" They nodded then slowly walked a short distance away before Rin shyly asked if she could touch his tail. He said she could if she caught him first, and the game was on.

Kagome turned back to InuYasha and opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off. "No! She's not staying with us! Sesshoumaru-"

"Abandoned her," Kagome quietly but firmly interjected.

"What?"

"Sesshoumaru abandoned her, InuYasha. I don't know exactly what happened, she wouldn't tell me, but she apparently made your brother-"

"Half-brother," he corrected automatically.

"Half-brother, then," she conceded. "Anyway, she did something that made him really mad, and he told her to leave and that he never wanted to see her again. When we found her, she'd already been running for hours."

"How'd you know that?"

"She started running before she even had a chance to eat breakfast. Speaking of which…" She turned to where her bag sat on her bike and pulled out a bag of potato chips before turning to the children. "Rin, Shippou, here, have a snack." She handed over the bag of chips then produced two water bottles and sent them over to Kirara. She turned back to InuYasha and frowned when she saw the conflicting emotions on his face. "I- InuYasha? She asked hesitantly. He turned from her and mumbled incoherently. "What was that?"

"I said the brat can stay!" he snapped in a strangely choked voice before racing off into the forest.

Kagome exchanged a bewildered look with Sango and Miroku. "What was that about?" the taijiya wondered.

"It would seem that this uncharacteristic display of emotion was caused by Kagome-sama informing him that Sesshoumaru-sama abandoned young Rin," Miroku observed. A deathly silence fell as they exchanged looks of surprised curiosity and shocked disbelief before turning to look in the direction in which InuYasha had fled.

"I'll go talk to him," Kagome volunteered before following after the upset hanyou.

"You will tell us what he says, won't you?" Sango pleaded. "We've all wondered about his relationship with Sesshoumaru, and how they came to hate each other so much."

"Of course I'll tell you." 'If he actually tells me anything…' "Wish me luck!"

"Good luck!" Sango, Miroku, Rin and Shippou chorused as Kirara mewed her well-wishes. Kagome grinned her thanks before slipping off into the trees after InuYasha.

His trail wasn't hard to follow; in his haste, InuYasha had crushed and snapped all sorts of vegetation and had left his foot prints clearly embedded in the forest floor on several occasions, further encouraging her that she was, indeed, on the right path.

----------

It was about an hour and a half later that Kagome finally came across InuYasha sitting at the base of a tree with his knees drawn up to his chest, arms wrapped around his legs, and chin resting on his arms. His ears were lowered slightly.

She silently approached him and sat beside him, laying a hand on his shoulder. "InuYasha? Are you alright?" she asked softly.

"Why wouldn't I be alright, huh?"

"Well, that's kind of what I was wondering… You really freaked out back there… What happened?"

"… Bad memories." His ears flattened completely.

"Bad memories… about Sesshoumaru?" she ventured cautiously. He flinched then nodded slowly. She slid her hand from his shoulder to put her arm around him in a comforting hug. "Would you like to tell me about it?" she asked softly.

"Well…" He sighed. "Okay. It all started about 150 years ago…"

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Hanyou: half human, half demon  
Oi: hey  
Osuwari: sit  
Youkai: demon  
Taijiya: demon exterminator

No, Sesshoumaru really wouldn't be that cruel to little Rin-chan, and I'll explain what actually happened in chapter three. I mean, honestly, would it even make sense to hang around in one spot waiting for her to heal, and then get rid of her? No.

This will eventually have Sesshoumaru paired with an OC as the main pairing, although I'm not sure exactly when she'll be introduced. Not for another several chapters, anyway.

I'm actually working on this in doujinshi form, but I'm in the process of moving and don't have the space right now for drawing, but I'm sick of not working on it, so this will have to feed my addiction for now...

InuYasha and all related characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi; I am merely a semi-crazed fan-girl.  
All OCs introduced belong to LadyVinicia and bret-michal-san


	2. 150 Years Ago

**Chapter Two**

150 Years Ago…

A much younger InuYasha (who appeared to be about five but was really fifty) ran through the forest blindly, in his haste not knowing - or caring - where he went. He could hear the group of assorted lesser youkai behind him, intent upon his blood, and it urged him to run faster. He knew he only delayed the inevitable; they were all much faster than he was, and the only reason they hadn't caught and killed him yet was because they were enjoying this game of cat and mouse. He forced himself to run faster.

He could hear the howls of his pursuers growing ever closer and turned to look behind himself to gauge their distance when he suddenly burst into a clearing, crashed into something, and found himself on the ground.

He sat up with a groan, hands clasped to his head. When he finally opened his eyes to see what he'd slammed into, he saw a pair of black boots and white hakama. He let his gaze travel up those hakama to see a yellow and indigo sash, a long, fluffy pelt and long silvery-white hair billowing in the wind, a white and red haori, spiked armor… and two very cold, dispassionate golden eyes staring down at him from a face with a blue crescent moon on the forehead and two magenta stripes on each cheek.

InuYasha let out a terrified yelp and scurried back only to be stopped as he heard another howl come from his pursuers. He glanced back up at the older inu standing before him nervously.

The cold amber gaze of the taller inu shifted to the trees briefly before turning back to the child quivering at his feet.

"Get behind me, pup," he ordered softly but firmly. InuYasha needed no second bidding and immediately scrambled to his feet and raced behind the taller youkai, peering out from behind him nervously as the lesser youkai that had been chasing him burst forth from the trees and skidded to a halt, studying the white-haired youth standing between them and their prey.

"You… you are the Taiyoukai of the west, are you not?" one asked somewhat nervously.

"Indeed I am. And knowing this now, what do you think I should do in response to your blatant disrespect of this Sesshoumaru's father?"

Puzzled looks were exchanged. "Forgive us, milord, but… However have we disrespected your father?"

As eyebrow went up in response to the question. "Do you not think it disrespectful of you to try and kill his son?"

"We did nothing of the sort! Not one of us has raised a hand against you!"

"This I know. However, I also know that a moment ago, you were all quite intent upon eating this Sesshoumaru's baby brother."

InuYasha gaped up at the older youkai. 'Okaa-san told me outo-san had another son, but I never thought I'd get to meet him!'

"Y- your b- brother?"

"Indeed." He cracked his knuckles suddenly and then lifted his hand slightly. His first two fingers began to glow with an eerie yellow-green light and then he flicked his wrist, neatly beheading the four other youkai. He then turned and regarded the pup he had just saved.

"A- arigatou… aniki?" the pup said, dipping his head lightly in respect, his tone questioning.

"Hn. What are you doing out here all alone, pup?"

InuYasha looked down. "After Okaa-san died, the humans didn't want a half-breed like me living there, so they made me leave. I've been alone ever since."

"I see." He regarded him almost thoughtfully for a moment. "You look to need a good meal, pup. Come." With that, he turned and strode into the forest, leaving a very surprised InuYasha to scamper after him.

'I don't get it… Okaa-san said my aniki hated humans and would probably kill me… So why is he letting me come with him? Unless Okaa-san was wrong about him…'

----------

After a few minutes of silent walking, they entered another small clearing where an imp sat tending a small fire that had several hunks of meat skewered and roasting in it.

"Jaken-"

"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama?" The imp turned to them and saw InuYasha. "Gah! M'lord, a filthy little hanyou has followed you back!"

A low growl issued from Sesshoumaru's throat in warning and Jaken's eyes bulged in terror. "As I was saying, Jaken. Make certain the pup is fed well."

"My lord, if I may… Who is he?"

Sesshoumaru turned to the boy. "What is your name, pup?"

"I-InuYasha. And you… are Sesshoumaru?"

"Hai." He turned back to Jaken. "InuYasha is the son of my chichiue and his ningen mate."

"He… he is your brother, my lord?"

"Hai."

"I see. And will he be staying with us long, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Sesshoumaru removed his armor and settled against the base of a tree before regarding InuYasha thoughtfully. "We shall see, Jaken. We shall see."

InuYasha blinked then slowly walked forward to sit by the fire, trying to ignore Jaken glaring at him.

Not too much later, he sat happily chewing on a hunk of roasted meat, as was Jaken, while the sun slowly sank below the horizon.

----------

After he had mostly satisfied his hunger, and had drunk a bit of water from a skin Jaken had thrown at him, InuYasha turned to look at the silent taiyoukai resting against a tree not far away.

"Aniki?" He received no verbal answer, but those disturbingly cold amber eyes turned to gaze upon him, making him swallow involuntarily. "I was wondering… Okaa-san told me before about you, and… she said you hated humans, and would prob'ly kill me… So why'd you help me?"

Sesshoumaru was silent for a moment as he watched the young hanyou fidget and squirm under the intensity of his unblinking gaze. "How much did your mother tell you of your inu youkai heritage, pup?"

He shrugged. "Not a lot… That my father and older half-brother were both full-blooded inu youkai and… oh, yeah! That she thought it was silly that outo-san kept talking about them having a 'puppy' instead of a 'baby' when she was still pregnant with me." he cocked his head slightly. "Since you keep callin' me 'pup'… Is that something all inu youkai do, or are you and outo-san just weird?"

Sesshoumaru suppressed a chuckle as Jaken let out an indignant squawk. "You ungrateful whelp of a hanyou! How dare you speak to Sesshoumaru-sama so disrespectfully! Why, he should-"

He was cut off by a rock firmly lodging itself in his beak-like mouth courtesy of a well-aimed pitch by Sesshoumaru.

"Jaken. You would do well to remember that this pup is a son of the Inu no Taisho and that I expect him to be treated as such," he said coldly. After successfully removing the rock from his mouth, Jaken immediately threw himself on the ground and began to spew forth apologies that went mostly unheard as Sesshoumaru turned to a now quivering and cowering InuYasha.

"P-please don't get mad, aniki! I… I didn't mean to be dis… re… disres… whatever he said! I was just-"

"I am not angry with you, pup," Sesshoumaru calmly interrupted. InuYasha immediately looked relieved. "You have done nothing wrong; it is only natural that you should be curious about your inu youkai heritage, considering you were obviously told very little. However, it is rather late, and you should sleep now. We shall talk more in the morning, and then we will go home, and you will learn a bit more about we inu youkai."

"'Home'?" InuYasha wondered.

"Yes. You will accompany me to our ancestral home. How else am I supposed to keep an eye on you?"

InuYasha blinked. "Oh… Okay. You're lettin' me stay with you?"

"Of course."

"But… why? Okaa-san said you hated humans and would kill me," he reminded him.

Sesshoumaru lifted an eyebrow. "Do you want me to kill you?"

"No! I was just wondering… why you don't seem to hate me."

Sesshoumaru sighed inaudibly. "While it's true that I hate humans, by chichiue making your hahaoya his mate, I had no choice but to accept her as a part of our pack. You, being chichiue's son, were born into our pack; despite your ningen blood, the instinct to protect my pack is too strong for me to simply ignore it and allow you to die. Your mother never quite understood that, ningen that she was, so she did not count on it causing me to accept you. She simply realized the fact that I consider ningen and hanyou alike to be beneath me, and chose to do what she could to protect you by telling you such. However, you have no need for concern; as I have said, you are a member of my pack, hanyou or not, and as such are under my protection. Sleep now, pup; you have a long day ahead of you tomorrow."

InuYasha blinked then nodded mutely and settled down to rest by the still merrily-crackling fire, deep in thought. 'Under his protection…? He's going to keep me safe? So… I'm not alone anymore… After all this time since Okaa-san died… I have a family again!" he thought happily as he drifted off into an exhausted slumber.

----------

InuYasha letting out a frightened whimper in the middle of the night was the first thing that alerted Sesshoumaru to the fact that the pup was having a nightmare. He cocked his head to the side slightly as the pup let out another terrified whimper and twitched violently. InuYasha was silent for a few minutes before he let out a loud yelp of pain and began thrashing so wildly that Sesshoumaru had to grab him before he rolled into the still glowing embers from the fire.

Sesshoumaru lifted the still sleeping child into his arms and tried to halt his quivering. He walked back over to the tree he had been resting against and sat back down before gently setting InuYasha in his lap and softly stroking the trembling pup's brow.

After a few moments of this, InuYasha's whimpers ceased and his golden eyes slowly fluttered open. "Aniki…?

"Hai. You… had a nightmare, pup?"

"Uh-huh." He abruptly sat up and buried his face in his older brother's haori, clinging to him tightly. "It was awful!" came his mournful wail before he started sobbing hysterically.

Sesshoumaru was shocked, to say the least. He stared at the crying pup for a moment before hesitantly reaching down and rubbing his back soothingly. He began emitting a soft, rumbling growl in effort to help calm him and was soon rewarded by InuYasha's sobs subsiding first to whimpers and finally to hiccups and deep, shuddering breaths.

"What happened in your nightmare, pup?" Sesshoumaru asked softly.

"W-well… First it was when I still lived with Okaa-san, and everyone always picked on me an' laughed at me an' called me 'half-breed.' then…" He paused to sniffle. "Then I saw when Okaa-san died again! And then when all the other people who lived in the same place as me and Okaa-san made me leave, and then I was being chased by a bunch of youkai… I couldn't get away from them, and they caught me and started arguing about who got to eat what part of me, and then one of them started trying to pull my arm off and it really hurt! And that's when I woke up."

"Hn. You should try and get back to sleep, pup."

He looked up, horrified. "But, aniki, I-"

"Sh. Worry not; nothing will harm you while you are with me."

"Really?"

"Hai. Now sleep." He laid InuYasha back down in his lap and draped his Mokomoko-sama over him to help ward off the night's chill and gazed up into the stars. InuYasha snuggled deeper into the fluffy pelt that surrounded him and soon fell into a blessedly dreamless sleep.

----------

The sun had only been up for a few brief hours when InuYasha awoke to the sound of Jaken's annoyingly nasally voice crying, "Ack! Sesshoumaru-sama! That pitiful hanyou is not only touching Mokomoko-sama, but he… he is in your lap, my lord!"

An eyebrow rose smoothly over a cold amber eye. "Did you truly believe I was unaware of this, Jaken?"

"Ah… Well, no, my lord, but-"

"Silence, Jaken."

InuYasha sat up slowly and glanced up fearfully. "Aniki? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, pup; Jaken just enjoys overreacting. Since you are awake, however, you may as well get up."

"Hai, aniki." He quickly disentangled himself from the fluffy pelt and scrambled out of his older brother's lap, yawning and rubbing his eyes. He cocked his head to the side slightly as he looked up at Sesshoumaru. "Aniki?" He waited for that cold amber gaze to settle on him before continuing. "We are going to your home today?"

"Hai, pup."

He scowled. "I have a name, ya know! You don't have to keep callin' me a puppy!" Sesshoumaru's only response was to lift an eyebrow. "But I guess as long as we all know who you're talkin' to, it's fine, right?" He grinned in what he hoped was an apologetic manner.

"Indeed." He stood suddenly, strapping his armor back into place. "Come." He abruptly strode from the clearing, leaving Jaken and InuYasha to race after him.

----------

Hakama: pants

Haori: shirt

Inu: dog

Taiyoukai: greater demon

Okaa-san: mom

Outo-san: dad

Arigatou: thank you

Aniki: older brother (respectful)

Hai: yes

Chichiue: father (respectful)

Ningen: human

InuYasha and all related characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi; I am merely a semi-crazed fan-girl.  
All OCs introduced belong to LadyVinicia and bret-michal-san


	3. Jaken's Dilemma

**Chapter Three**

Jaken's Dilemma

Jaken stared nervously in the direction in which Rin had fled, shocked that the normally cheerful girl had actually believed such an obvious lie. Now what was he going to do? When Sesshoumaru-sama returned and discovered his young ward gone, heads were sure to roll… his own head, to be more precise.

What could he possibly tell Sesshoumaru-sama about the child's disappearance? He couldn't possibly tell him that the child now believed he hated her… could he?

No… To do so would be worse than suicidal; it would be far better for his health to remain silent. Until he demanded to know where his precious ward was. Honestly, what was so great about a little human girl, anyway? All she did was slow them down with her constant need to eat and sleep, and with how often she was kidnapped and needing to be rescued, it was amazing anything got done at all!

He sighed as he climbed to his feet, kicking dirt over the smoldering coals from the previous night's fire. After the fire had been dealt with, he turned to the path Rin had run down and slowly began to trudge after her, occasionally calling out her name.

----------

Needless to say, Jaken's wonderful skills for tracking small human girls named Rin soon ensured that he hadn't the slightest idea where the girl had gone, and only the vaguest notion as to the direction in which their camp was. With a defeated sigh, he turned and began walking back to the clearing they'd been camped in (he hoped).

It wasn't long before he (quite literally) ran into Kohaku and Ah-Un. After picking himself up from where he fell due to his close encounter with a large, scaly leg, he turned to Kohaku, who held three rabbits ready to be skinned and roasted.

"I don't suppose you've come across Rin?"

"No. wasn't she with you and Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"Eh… Why, yes, she was, but… Well, you see…" And suddenly, what Jaken believed to be a brilliant idea occurred to him. "A short while after Sesshoumaru-sama departed this morning, only minutes after you, yourself, left to hunt, young Rin took it in mind that it would be a good idea to play a little game, and ran off, expecting me to chase after her. Naturally, I did just that, but I cannot seem to find her, and the girl has not answered a single call of her name. I dread to even think of what Sesshoumaru-sama will do should anything have happened to that girl."

Kohaku frowned for a moment. It wasn't like Rin to wander far on her own. If she didn't have either Ah-Un or Jaken with her, she tended to stay within hearing distance. He was sure there was something he wasn't being told.

"Well, I'm sure she's fine. I'm certain Sesshoumaru-sama will be able to find her when he returns."

"NO!" Jaken screeched. "I- I mean… What with her recent death, Sesshoumaru-sama has been even more protective of that girl. If he believes her to be in danger, he may do something foolish. I believe it would be in everyone's best interests if you, Ah-Un, and I find young Rin and get her back where Sesshoumaru-sama expects her to be before he returns."

Kohaku considered a moment, studying the nervous imp with a frown. "Very well. I'll help you find her. Where did you last see her?"

"She was still in the clearing we've camped in the last fortnight."

"Well, then, that would be the place to begin looking." He tugged lightly on Ah-Un's reigns and began leading him back the way Jaken had just come from.

Only a short ten minutes later, they found themselves back in their abandoned camp. After glancing around for a moment, Kohaku turned to Jaken. "Which way did she go?"

"Ah…" He glanced in the direction in which Rin had run off before pointing. "There…"

"Let's go." He turned to the small trail and began making his way along it. He noticed that the amount of footprints left behind and all the vegetation that had been carelessly crushed underfoot didn't indicate a simple game of hide-and-seek. It looked more like Rin had been running from something. He cast a suspicious look at the imp before he returned to tracking the path taken by the young girl. Jaken followed (silently, for once), leading Ah-Un behind him.

----------

"We should head back… The other's will probably get themselves killed if we leave 'em alone much longer."

Kagome blinked at the abrupt change of topic. "But… What happened when you guys got… wherever Sesshoumaru lives? Did anything happen on the way there?"

InuYasha looked away. "Kagome… This… isn't easy for me, ya know. I haven't ever talked about any of this before…"

"Oh… Okay. You will tell me more soon, though, won't you?"

"Maybe… I don't know."

She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Talking does help."

InuYasha blushed slightly at the contact before jumping up. "Keh. Let's get back to the others. Get on."

With InuYasha providing transportation, he trip back to the rest of the group (and Rin) was much quicker than Kagome's trip to find said hanyou.

----------

Upon returning to camp, InuYasha let Kagome down by the fire the others had started in their absence then leapt up into a nearby tree. Shippou hopped up onto Kagome's shoulder and buried himself under her hair.

"Is InuYasha gonna be okay?" he whispered, hoping InuYasha wouldn't hear him.

"I think so, Shippou. InuYasha just needs some time to himself now, okay?" The kitsune nodded slightly before hopping back down and scampering back over to Kirara.

Rin glanced up at InuYasha then slowly approached Kagome. "Kagome-sama…?" she asked hesitantly.

"Just call me 'Kagome,' Rin-chan. What is it?"

"Kagome-san… Did Rin make InuYasha-sama sad?"

"No, Rin-chan, it's not your fault!" She quickly gathered the little girl into her arms. "No, it's just that he remembered something that upset him."

"But he remembered because of Rin. If Rin did not come here, he would not be sad."

"Rin-chan… This is something he just needs to deal with. It's a good thing that it happened now, while we're here to help him, right?"

The girl frowned in thought. "Rin does not like to be alone when she is sad… Yes, you're right, Kagome-san. But will he feel better soon?"

Kagome glanced up at the distressed hanyou before she replied. "I think the only way he'll feel better is if he and Sesshoumaru talk, Rin-chan. I really do…"

"Then shouldn't we find Sesshoumaru-sama?" Rin asked quietly, looking down.

"I don't know, Rin-chan… Normally Sesshoumaru finds us. To be honest, I wouldn't even know where to begin looking for him. Do you?"

Rin chewed her lip slightly, then shook her head. "Rin knows where we camped last, but he wasn't there when Rin left, and it's too far to make it before it's too dark to travel."

"And everyone's set up camp here already…"

"We're not looking' for him," InuYasha grumbled from his perch. "He just got rid of that whelp! What'dya think he'd do if we just came walkin' up to him, bringin' her back? Don't sound like such a good idea to me. He'd prob'ly just kill the little twerp so he wouldn't have to deal with her, and us for bringing her."

"Sesshoumaru-sama would never hurt me!" Rin yelled suddenly, glaring at the hanyou angrily.

InuYasha gave her a sad smile full of sympathy. "Yeah… Ya know kid, I remember a time when I would've said somethin' like that… But really, there's just no telling with him. You're prob'ly better off away from him, anyway. He can't hurt you that way…"

Rin stared at him silently for a long moment as tears welled up in her eyes before she threw herself at Kagome with a wail, clinging to her while she sobbed.

Kagome shot InuYasha a heated glare before scooping Rin up and walking over to sit beside Shippou and Kirara.

"Shh, it's okay, Rin-chan… Don't listen to that baka, he's just trying to upset you."

"But… What if he's right?" she sniffled.

"I'm sure Sesshoumaru had a reason for asking you to leave, Rin-chan. It wouldn't make sense for him to just have you leave because you upset him."

"D'you ever listen? This is Sesshoumaru we're talkin' about- he doesn't make sense, and he likes it that way! That's probably the only reason he let her travel with him in the first place- so he could mess with my head, and obviously whatever he had planned didn't work, so he had her leave!"

"Osuwari," Kagome said with a sigh. "InuYasha, you're not making any sense. He wouldn't have taken her in just to upset you. And if he did, I doubt he would have been so protective of her, right? There has to be some other reason…"

After a few moments of spluttering and spitting dirt from his mouth, the spell released him and InuYasha jumped to his feet.

"Bitch! What was that for?!" he snarled.

"You're upsetting Rin, you're overreacting horribly, and you won't shut up long enough to listen to reason! I needed enough quiet that I could hear myself think for a minute!"

"There's nothing to think about. Sesshoumaru's a heartless bastard, and that's all there is to it."

"What's that have to do with you being too loud?"

"It means instead of wastin' your time thinking, ya should be making some lunch!"

"Do you ever think about anything but food?" A sudden growl from her own stomach caused her face to flush slightly in embarrassment. "I give up…" she sighed before turning to Rin with a bight smile. "Would you like to help me make lunch, Rin-chan?"

She rubbed her fists across her eyes, attempting to wipe away most of her tears, before looking at the older girl. "Can I, Kagome-san?"

"I wouldn't have asked if it wasn't okay, sweetie. Sango, could you take Rin and go get some water, please? The water bottles are almost empty." She gave a pointed look to InuYasha, indicating she wanted to speak to him without Rin overhearing, and Sango immediately agreed.

"Of course, Kagome-chan. Come on, Rin." They collected the bottles and set off for a nearby stream.

After a few silent moments, Kagome turned to InuYasha. "We need to find out what's going on, InuYasha. It just doesn't make sense that Sesshoumaru would have her leave like that. I know you don't like him, and I know you think he's doing this just because of you, but if you actually think about it… It just doesn't make sense."

"I heard you the first time you said that, when that brat first showed up. I said she could stay, and Sesshoumaru's already gonna want to kill us for that, but we're not gonna go try and find him and fix this, Kagome. If he shows up, he shows up, but looking for him is crazy."

"I know it is, InuYasha. But we have to try."

----------

Jaken and Kohaku had spent three long days tracking Rin when Sesshoumaru suddenly dropped to the ground in front of them.

"S-Sesshoumaru-sama!" came Jaken's terrified squawk.

He gave each of them a long look before focusing on the trembling imp. "Jaken… Where is Rin?"

----------

Baka: idiot; fool(ish)

Kitsune: fox

I was looking through my messages and such on DevArt, when I realized, "My God, it's been more than three months since I posted chapter two of Black Moon..." I'm such a horrid person...

I would have liked this chapter to be a bit longer, but honestly, this whole setting up everything is entirely too tedious. And I can't believe how mean I'm being to Rin...

InuYasha and all related characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi; I am merely a semi-crazed fan-girl.  
All OCs introduced belong to LadyVinicia and bret-michal-san


End file.
